Self-piercing fastener member



Sept. 19, 1939. w. H. CHURCHILL SELF-PIERCING FASTENER MEMBER OriginalFiled Oct. 24, 1956 INVENTOR Wilmer HC'fi/urcin'i/Z. 33 m ATTORNEYfastener member;

Patented Sept. 19, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE SELF-PIEBOINGFASTENEB- MEMBER Wilmer H. Churchill, Sangns, Masa, assignor. toUnited-Carr Fastener Corporation, Cambridg Mass., a corporation ofMassachusetts 2 Claims,

My invention relates to improvements in selfpiercing fastener membersfor' use in fastening two or more pieces of material together.

a Reference is hereby made to my application U. 8. Patent No. 2,133,916issued October 18, 1938, which contains claims to the method offastening pieces of material together by the use of my improvedself-piercing fastener member and ofwhich this application is adivision.

In the drawing. which illustrates a preferred form of my invention:

- Figure 1 is a plan view showing a strip of material secured to asupporting part, such as a piece of metal tubing, by means of myimproved Fig. 2 is a section showing the sheet material and metal tubingin superposed relation and a punch, shown in elevation carrying afastener member, in the act of piercing the superposed parts; a

Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 2 showing the strip of materialand metal tubing in final attachment by means of my improved fastenervmember; 1

Fig. 4 is a section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the punch shown in Fi 2;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the punch shown in.

Fig. 2 with the punch turned 90;

Fig. 7 is a front view of my improved fastener member per se;

Fig. 8 is a side view of the fastener member shown in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the fastener member shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a bottom plan view of the fastener member shown in Figs. '7and 9; and

Fig. 11 is a view similar to that of Fig. 3 showing a modified form offastener member.

In my preferred form of installation, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, Ihave shown a strip I preferably formed of carboard-or similar materialsecured to a supporting piece 2, which may be a metal tubing or othermetal piece as shown in the figures, by means of my improved fastenermember 3. The tubing 2 may be used in the framework of an automobileseat and the strip l a part of an upholstery panel secured to the tubing2 for trimming or decorating purposes. Although I have chosen the stripI and tubing 2 for the purpose of illustrating my invention, it isunderstood that I do not wish to be limited by the same because othermaterials could be fastened together through the method hereinafterdescribed. A punch 4 (Fig. 2); which may be attached to any suitablemachine (not shown), is

adapted to come down upon the superposed parts I and 2 and pierce thesame. Thefastener .3, preferably in initial assembly with the punch l,is provided with spaced pairs of spring arms having shoulder meansconstructed to pass through the materials of parts I and 2 duringdownward movement of the punch. The shoulder means are adapted tocontract during passage through the parts I and 2 and then springoutwardly to engage the material of the tubing 2 adjacent the aperture 3formed in the same during the piercing process with the result thattheparts I and 2 are held between the shoulders and the base of thefastener, as most clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Referring in more detail to the fastener member used in my improvedmethod, I have illustrated in Figs. 7-10 a preferred construction of myfastener having a base 5, which may be of square or rectangular shape,provided with an aperture 6 substantially in the center thereof. Thebase 5 has pairs of inwardly-bent portions 7-! and 8-8 at opposite endsof the base with the portions of each pair extending from opposite edgesthereof toward the center so that the inner ends of each'pair are inopposed relationship (Fig. 10). Outwardly-extending arms 99 project fromthe inner ends of the portions I'I and outwardly-extending arms I0I0project. from the inner ends of the portions 8-8. The pairs of arms 9'9and I0'-I 0 are spaced laterally one from another. The portions 'I--|and 88 are preferably spaced from the base portion 5 so that they mayhave a twisting or torsional action when the pairs of projecting arms9-0 and I0I0 are moved inwardly toward one another during contraction ofthe arms.

Each of the pairs of outwardly-extending arms 9--9 and I0l0 have opposedinner surfaces in substantially adjacent relation one to another, asmost clearly illustrated in Figs. 8-10. Also, the pairs of arms, 9-9 andI0--I0 are preferably in direct alignment one with another and adaptedto move inwardly toward each other. The outer edges of the arms 9--9 andI0I0 are shaped to provide a neck II which may be of any desired length,a relatively rounded shoulder-portion I2 and a tapering camming surfaceI3 located on the opposite side of the shoulder I2 from the neck ii. Thecamming surface 13, in my preferred form, tapers to a relatively sharppoint It at its free end, as most clearly shown in Fig. 7. It will benoticed that the outer edges of the pairs of arms 9-8 and Ill-I0 lie ineven relationship as shown in Figs. 7 and 10. Although I have describedmy preferred form of fastener member as having spaced pairs ofprojecting arms with the arms of each pair in side-by-side relation, I

do not wish to be limited to that particular construction because asatisfactory, if less strong, fastener member has been provided in whichinwardly-bent portions extend from one edge only of the base 5 so thatsingle projecting arms only are arranged in spaced aligned relation fora scissors-like action.

The modified form of my fastener invention illustrated in Fig. 11differs from the preferred form of fastener member shown in Figs. L10 byreason of the fact that relatively sharp shoulders l5--l5 aresubstituted for the less abrupt shoulders l2--I2 of my preferred form.The sharp shoulders l5l5 are more diflicult to free from the part withwhich they are engaged than the more rounded shoulders and hence aremore useful in certain installations, particularly in installationshaving parts not intended to be separated after they have once beensecured together.

The punch 4, as most clearly illustrated in Figs. 2, 5 and 6, has a bodyportion I6 and a relatively slender piercing pin I! at one endterminating, in my preferred form, in a four-sided taper l8. Slots isare longitudinally disposed along opposite sides of the pin l1 (Figs. 5and 6) having a width greater than the thickness of each pair ofadjacent arms 99 and Ill-40 and a depth substantially equal, in mypreferred form, to the length of that portion of the shoulders overlyingthe inner surface of the tubing 2 when the shoulders are in finalengagement with the same. The slots IS in my preferred form extendslightly into the faces of the taper I8, as most clearly shown in Fig.6. t

In operating my device to secure the imperforate strip I to theimperforate tubing 2, the strip may be placed in superposed relationwith the tubing 2 with its inner face adjacent the material of thetubing as shown in Fig. 2. The fastener member 3 is then assembled withthe punch 4 by aligning the pin I! with the aperture 6 and then slippingthe base 5 over the pin ll until the base lies substantially adjacentthe body portion ll. Some form of registering'means (not shown) may beprovided as a part of the body portion l6 of the punch for the purposeof quick and accurate registering of the fastener base with the toolbase. The fastener member is held in temporary fixed position with thetool in my preferred form through friction between parts of the fastenerand the pin l'l. When the fastener is in complete assembly with thetool, the pairs of arms 9-9 and Ill-l align with respective slots 9-9and Ill-40 spaced slightly from the bottom surface of the respectiveslots l9.

As the punch is brought down upon the superposed parts I and 2, thetaper l8 at the free end of the pin ll penetrates the parts i and 2 asshown in Fig. 2. As the taper l8 continues through the parts, thecamming surfaces I3 of the fastener arms engage the material adjacentthe apertures formed by the piercing action of the taper l8 and cutthrough the material thereby enabling the shoulders l2 to pass entirelythrough the parts. As the camming surfaces I3 engage the material of theparts i and 2, the arms 9-9 and l0l0 are forced inwardly into the slotsIS, in which position they are held until the shoulders I 2 have passedthrough the parts, at which time the torsion set up in the inwardlybentportions 'l--l and 8-8 causes the shoulders to spring outwardly forengagement with the material of the part 2 adjacent the aperture 3(Figs. 3 and 11) As the shoulders [2 spring outwardly into engagingposition, the punch 4 moves upwardly into normal position enablinganother fastener to be assembled with the same for repeating thefastening action. The parts i and 2 are now firmly held between theshoulders l2 and the base of the fastener member.

Any number of fasteners may be applied to the parts for holding the sametogether and it is important to note that with my preferred installationthe fasteners have greater holding powers if applied with the armsplaced at right angles to the length of the tube. It is also possible bymy device to fasten articles having greater thicknesses than thoseillustrated in the preferred form of my invention by increasing thelength of the piercing pin and providing a fastener member having agreater relative distance between the shoulders of the arms and thebase. In production assembly a form of automatic feed (not shown) mightbe utilized so that the pin ll would pick up each fastener member duringdownward movement of the punch for carrying the fastener through theparts to be secured together. Further, it might be necessary to equipthe punch press with strippers (not shown) to pull the fastener off thepunch after attachment.

As a result of my invention I have provided an easily operated means forseeming pieces of material together, which are imperforate before theyare subjected to action of the piercing pin, by use of a strong anddurable fastening means which is of comparatively simple and inexpensiveconstruction.

Although I have illustrated a preferred form of my invention, I do notwish to be limited thereby because the scope of my invention is best setforth in the following claims.

I claim: I

1. A metal-piercing snap fastener member for securing pieces together atleast one of which is metal, said fastener member having a base portion,arms opposed to each other edgewisely and extending from and locatedbeneath said base and having outer shouldered edges shaped for holdingthe arms against accidental withdrawal from said pieces, and said armshaving irmer edges spaced from each other throughout their entirelengths whereby a tool may be inserted between said arms during initialinsertion of said fastener through said pieces, and said base having anaperture in line with said spaced edges to permil; passage of said tool.

2. A snap fastener member of the class described comprising a basehaving four separate folded-under portions extending beneath the base insubstantially parallel relation thereto, and a flat arm extending fromthe inner end of each of said folded-under portions and being arrangedin side-by-side pairs with the edges of one pair being substantiallyopposite and spaced from the corresponding edges of the other pair forrelative movement toward and away from each other and each of said armsbeing shaped for snap fastener engagement with a cooperating member.-

WILMER H. CHURCHILL.

